Page 11 of Bride Takes a Laird (Highland Vows & Vengeance #2)

O n the trek back to the keep, Magnus was displeased that he hadn’t questioned Aldo about Ned’s wagering. He should have gained his perspective and what Ned had told him about his repayment. Perhaps he would have alluded to where Ned was getting the coins from. It could have also led to a hint as to what happened to his brother. He would need to revisit the village again and soon, to question the knave.

Winston wasn’t at the stable when he reached it but then he remembered telling him to be at the fief watching over Kendra. He patted Sigge’s head and ruffled the fur of his hound in greeting. Wyren took the reins of his horse and said he’d get the beasts settled.

On his way to the keep, Magnus took a calming breath and appreciated the night’s tranquility. All had sought their supper or slumber and the sky darkened with speckles of stars spread across the sky. Such a night would normally soothe his agitation, but with so much on his mind, he barely allowed the beauty of it to affect him.

He took the steps of the tower keep and entered. Voices from within the hall alerted him that many had gathered. There was talk but no laughter. Perhaps one day there would be laughter within his hall again. Once he learned who had murdered Ned and sought vengeance, all would be righted and normalcy would return—whatever that normality was. He was uncertain if there ever would be peace within his clan again.

Magnus stopped short at the hall’s entrance when he spotted Kendra by the hearth. She held his brother’s bairn in her arms and was so focused on the babe that she didn’t notice him. He watched her with interest. How bonny she appeared holding a bairn. It gave him hope that within the next year or two, they would have a child of their own. Magnus hadn’t much thought about being a father or having a family but now that he married, it was something that suddenly struck him. If he was going to be the kind of father he hoped to be, he needed to make changes, not only to himself but to the hierarchy of his clan.

Marny sat in the chair by the hearth and appeared to be sleeping. His brother entered and bypassed him, making his way to his wife. He lowered his head to speak in Kendra’s ear, then took the babe from her. She smiled and gently placed her hand on the babe’s head. How appealing his wife looked and how pleased he was to be home. He stepped forward until he reached her.

She turned to look at him with a welcoming smile. “Magnus! You are back.”

Magnus wanted to grab her and pull her into his arms. He wished to kiss her with enough passion to brighten her fair cheeks. Lord, she was lovely. But then he realized everyone in the hall was looking at them and Magnus suddenly became reserved. He presumed his family hoped to get a glimpse of his relations with Kendra and he would leave them wondering. So he took her hand and gave it a light squeeze, letting her know that he was pleased to see her.

“Sweetheart, ye…are here…” He wanted to tell her how bonny she looked, but instead, he said, “What did ye do this day?”

She smiled lightly and squeezed his hand in return. “I visited my father, enjoyed speaking to your grandda, helped Ellen a little, and walked about inside the walls.”

“And what do ye think of our home?” He didn’t smile or frown but hoped she found their land as beautiful as he did .

“It is quite pleasant here, from what I saw of it. Perhaps when you have time, you can give me a tour?”

Magnus lifted her hand. “I would be happy to…when I have the time. I saw ye holding Hale. Ye look bonny holding a bairn. Are ye amiable to becoming a mother?”

Kendra pressed the long length of her blond locks behind her shoulder and nodded. “I had not really thought about it but aye, I should like to be a mother one day. It is a wife’s duty, is it not, to provide her husband with an heir? I shall do my duty one day. Do you hope for a large family?”

He waved to his family, beyond them at the table, and grinned. “That is what I am used to, but we will be blessed with whatever God deems we deserve.”

“I am sure we will have at least two or more. That is my hope.”

“God, how ye please me,” he whispered in her ear as he leaned close. “I shall show ye my adoration later.” Magnus guided her to the table and settled her in a chair. He sat at the head of the table and listened to the discussion going on around him. Yet, he heard all of two words of it because he was focused on Kendra. Though she appeared pleased to see him, there was a note of sadness in her eyes. He would find out later what had distressed her.

The meal was served and all ate, conversed, and partook of ale and wine. That his family gathered for the meal somewhat surprised Magnus. They hadn’t eaten together in some time. Supper ended and all left the hall. Kendra set her supper dagger on the trencher and peered up at him. She seemed to be waiting for him but Magnus had finished eating long ago.

“Shall we set off to bed?” he asked.

She nodded and demurely, rose from her seat. He walked behind her as she took the steps to the upper floor. Magnus appreciated her body and the way her shoulders moved when she walked. She had a gracefulness about her and was almost regal in her movement. He found himself completely enthralled with her.

Just inside their bedchamber, he didn’t wait but pulled her into his embrace. He pressed her against the closed door and kissed her. Lord, how he wanted to ravish her, but he maintained a little control.

Her response was just as filled with desire. Her hands gripped his garments, and he tried to untie the strings of her bodice with frustration. Once he successfully undid the ties, he shifted the material away from her shoulders. Her overdress fell to the floor in a heap. She was clad in an alluring chemise that covered little of her and did nothing to hide her attributes from him.

Magnus stood before her, staring into her lovely blue eyes. “Sweetheart, undress me. I long to feel your hands on me and cannot wait.” That certainly was true. Numerous times throughout the day, he had envisioned undressing her, her disrobing him, and the joining of their bodies. Lord, he was smitten with his wife, and he was damned satisfied by that.

Kendra’s hands shook when she unfastened his tunic and pressed away his tartan from around his body. She used both hands to take hold of his belt and unfastened it. With little care, she let it fall from his hips and it clanked on the wooden floorboards. Magnus should have removed his sword, but he was too anxious to have her. He lifted her in his arms and carried her to the bed. There, he set her gently in the center and leaned back to gaze at her beautiful body.

He pressed a hand over her naked leg until he reached the hem of her chemise. His hand slid beneath the delicate fabric and eased it upward until he cupped the weighty flesh of her breast. She was endowed with ample breasts, more than enough to satisfy a man. He shifted forward and kissed a nipple through the thin material of her garment. Though he was anxious to be with her, he delighted in teasing her and reveled at the sound of her winsome murmurs.

She reached out to touch his hair and shifted her fingers to glide and take hold of the strands. With force, she pulled his head to hers. Magnus took it as her signal to want to be kissed. He set his mouth on hers and pressed his lips lightly at first. But then desire wound its way through him and he soon had her tongue responding to his. Lord, the kisses were hot and sultry. He kept up the torment of it which spurred an insatiable lust within him.

Magnus had never acted without honor with a woman and he was hard-pressed to maintain such now. Something within him turned his touches and movement to fervor. His hands roamed her skin, effectively squeezing her gently, gripping her legs, and bringing her closer to him. He pressed his length against her thigh and groaned at the hardness of his center. A throb taunted him to take her but his sweet wife shrank away from him.

At that moment, Magnus realized how forceful he was being and eased away from her. He’d forgotten how little experience she had. “I seem to be in a rush…”

“Magnus, don’t…stop.”

“Was I hurting ye?” Lord, he hoped not. “I apologize if I was.”

“Nay, I liked what you were doing. Please, kiss me again.”

“I want to do more than kiss ye. I want to hear ye shout my name when ye come undone. Say that ye will.” He pressed the row of his knuckles over her soft cheek and waited for her promise.

“I shall if it makes you happy.”

Magnus rejoined their mouths and kissed her with gentle passion. Their lips enmeshed and became torrid. He wanted to be tender but desire swarmed every part of him. The intention to take it slow was short-lived. He couldn’t wait and moved his hand to her center. The warmth of her core beckoned his fingers and he readied her. She was tight and wet, more than ready for him. He pulled away from her and shifted her legs wider so he could join with her. As he set his erection at her center, he watched as her eyes darkened with passion. With little effort, he slid the length of himself inside her and groaned at the exquisite sensation of her surrounding him .

Pulses of her desire urged him on. It took great will not to thrust madly inside her. Magnus’s legs shook with the need, but he wouldn’t allow himself the pleasure. Not yet. She needed loving, a gentleness that spurred her lust and passion. With deliberate strokes of his length, he teased her, prodding her to meet him. She lifted her body to take him in and he moaned at the exquisite trembles of his body. The pleasure was there for the taking, but still, Magnus held back. He wanted Kendra to succumb to him, to meet her end before him, and to receive the bliss he was certain that awaited her. Bliss certainly awaited him.

She thrashed about and gripped his thighs as she propelled her body toward him. Their clashes became maddened then, each taking what each wanted and needed. She gasped and called his name in a breathy whisper. Hearing his name on her lips sent his culmination to overtake him. They met their ends together, both rasping and in thorough harmony. There was no greater rapture than that.

Magnus gently eased from her and set his head near her shoulder. His lips grazed the tender skin below her ear and he tried to calm his racing heart and breath. She placed her hand on his face and eased her fingers over his cheek. Magnus shifted to his back, kept his gaze on the beamed ceiling overhead, and considered how easy it was for her to enthrall him. He wasn’t displeased by that, but he had no power to resist her or the promises made by her body.

When he peered at his wife, he found her watching him. “Have I told ye, sweetheart, how bonny ye look this day?”

She giggled lightly. “Aye, you did but you need not say such sweet words to me.”

“Every lady should be told so each day, especially by her husband. I meant to tell ye that and more when I first saw ye in the hall.” Magnus pressed a kiss on the side of her face and reached his arm across her torso.

Kendra shifted from beneath his hold, left the bed, and retrieved a cloth. She used it to clean him and her and returned it to the basin. When she came back to him, she didn’t dress in a nightrail but pulled the covers over her naked body. He almost grinned thinking how easy it would be for them to join again later in the night.

“How was your trip to the village? Did you find out anything about your brother’s death?”

“I found out some information that might be useful. What about ye? How did your visit with your father go?”

“My father at first failed to recognize me. I fear one day he won’t and never shall again. That saddens me, but what can I do?”

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. Your father seems like a good man and ’tis disheartening to see him affected so greatly by this malady.”

She wrapped her arm around him and snuggled closer. “Your grandda gave me a brooch this day. He said it belonged to your grandmother.”

Magnus leaned upward and frowned slightly. “He did? I am surprised because he vowed that he would never part with my grandmother’s brooch. He said it beheld magic and that the wearer would receive love from the man that she admired. Many a time around the night fires, my grandda told the story of how my grandmother had an old crone cast a spell upon the brooch so she could win my grandda’s affection.”

Kendra snorted a light laugh. “I disbelieve in magical charms, Magnus, but to appease Hugh, I accepted it. He told me to wear it at the Bealtuinn festival.”

“Oh, aye, the festival approaches. I wish I could find Ned’s killer before Bealtuinn. It would help the clan accept his death and perhaps lessen their mourning. I fear they will not want to celebrate unless I fulfill my vow of vengeance.”

“You vowed to seek vengeance for his murder?” She gingerly roamed her hand over his torso and he flinched at her light touch.

“Aye, and it is a vow I take most seriously. ”

“I do hope you find out who took him from you. What if you do not find his murderer? Will you go to your death, the end of your days, seeking to fulfill this vow?”

Magnus wondered that too, but he didn’t answer only grunted. “I should give the soldiers the next few days off so they can collect the wood and boughs for the great bonfire.”

“If anything the festivity might lighten everyone. It saddens me to see your people in such mourning but I will probably be in the same spirit when Papa passes.”

He slid his hand to her shoulder and pressed her back. “All hearts mourn when we lose someone close to us but we all die eventually, sweetheart. When your da’s time comes, we shall send him to heaven with reverence as is his due.”

Kendra placed her hands around his neck as he leaned over her. She clasped her hands and peered at him with sadness. “When his time comes, I want to take him back to our manor where he can be laid to rest with our ancestors. It is only right to honor him in such a way.”

“Mayhap that is so, but he may not pass for years and by then your brother might return.” Magnus was dejected hearing her say such a dreadful thing. She wanted to go home. Kendra hadn’t exactly spoken those words, but he sensed a bit of homesickness in her. He wasn’t sure if he could take her there and risk her not wanting to return with him. Yet she had spoken her vows before the chancellor and the king. She wouldn’t go back on her vows now. No matter what happened, he was unwilling to lose her.

Magnus yanked her body closer to him and he set his mouth on hers. He couldn’t get enough of her kisses, touches, and love. He would spend the night showing her how much she affected him even if it took him until sunrise.